The first day

Note: Do not double this recipe

In a large (at least 4 1/2 quart) bowl, beat eggs very light.
Gradually beat in sugar, keep on beating, by hand one hour, one-half
hour by mixer. Mix baking powder with flour, gently mix that in by
hand. Make a stiff dough. Let it rest two hours in the refrigerator.

Grease three cookie trays and sprinkle with anise seeds. The anise
seeds give the cookies their flavor. Roll out small portions to about
1/2 inch thick on a well-floured board. Dust the Springerle mold with
flour and press it into the dough. Cut out with a sharp knife and set on
cookie sheet. You will need to clean your knife off occasionally as it
gets sticky. Let cookies stand, covered with a clean cloth, at least 24
hours.

The next day

Bake in a 350 degree oven one tin at
a time until white on top, about 10 to 15 minutes.

These are my mother's and husband's favorite and the Christmas
baking rises and falls (pardon the pun) on the success of the springerle.
In my family, every other cookie can be picture perfect (and for my
aunts, usually is), but if the springerle fail, it wasn't a good year.
Do the tops crack? Do they rise unevenly? Does the oven door fall off
onto the cookie sheet that's ready for the oven? Does the mixer motor
burn out? If there is time to bake only one cookie, it must be the
Springerle.
The name Springerle comes from an old German dialect and means
"little knight," probably because of the pictures of knights on the
cookies. According to Mimi Sherton's Visions of Sugarplums: A
Cookbook of Cakes, Cookies, Candies & Confections from all the
Countries That Celebrate Christmas, the poor would offer cookies
stamped with pictures in place of more expensive sacrifices. This is an
old recipe, probably similar to my great-grandmother's. Great-granma had
great-granpa beat the dough the requisite hour by hand, and he spent
most of the time asking, "Is it done yet?"

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Recipe last updated Monday November 30, 1998